Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1979, Blaðsíða 47

2Ó00 for ihe grey seal stock. Since then
some biological and statistical data have
been collected by the Icelandic Fislieries
Laboratory and the Marine Researcli
Institute, Reykjavik. The latest stock size
figures show 40—45000 individuals of
common seal and 8—10.000 grey seals.
Seal hunting in Icelandic waters dates
back to the settlement of Iceland. Records
of seal hunting span the period front
1897 till present. For historical reasons no
form of licence or catch quotas have been
introduced up to now. The hunting
statistics sliow that the mean annual
catch in tlie years 1897—1919 was about
6000, then tlie catches declined reaching
minimum between 1939—1959. In 1960
the catches suddenly increased again and
have since been about 5000—7000 ani-
mals per year, except for 1978 when it
dropped to 4623, because of a sudden
lall in skin prices. The decline in hun-
ting after 1919 was probably not due to
overhunting, but more like to changes
in habits of the Icelandic people, an
epidemic in both seal populations, un-
favourable prices etc. The damage to
the fishery industry caused by the cod-
worm is enormous and because of the
connection between the seal and tlie
cod-worm it has been suggested that seal
research should be increased to get proper
answers to many questions concerning thc
biology of the Icelandic seal stocks.
Leiðrétting
í grein minni um íslenskar vorflug-
ur í 1.—2. hefti Nátturufræðingsins
þessa árs birtist meinleg prentvilla,
sem getur valclið erfiðleikum í grein-
ingum vorflugna, nema lesendur viti
af henni. Á bls. 66, 2. dálki, 2. línu
að neðan á strikið í byrjun línu að
falla niður og talan 5 að koma í stað-
inn og á bls. 68, I. dálki, 1. línu að
ofan fellur 5 niður og strik kemur
í staðinn. Málsgreinarnar eiga að líta
þannig út.
Bls. 66, 2. dálkur neðst:
Limnephilus 5
5. 8. kviðskjöldur með raufarplötur
(5. mynd d), kvenflugur 12
Bls. 68, 1. dálkur efst:
— 8. kviðskjöldur án raufarplatna
(5. mynd a), karlflugur 6
Lesendur Náttúrufræðingsins eru
vinsamlegast beðnir að leiðrétta þetta.
Gísli Már Gislason.
141